The Geography of Madness

Penis Thieves, Voodoo Death, and the Search for the Meaning of the World's Strangest Syndromes

"Jon Ronson meets David Grann in this fascinating, wildly entertaining adventure and travel story about how culture can make us go totally insane The Geography of Madness is an investigation of "culture-bound" syndromes, which are far stranger than they sound. Why is it, for example, that some men believe, against all reason, that vandals stole their penises, even though they're in good physical shape? In The Geography of Madness, acclaimed magazine writer Frank Bures travels around the world to trace culture-bound syndromes to their sources--and in the process, tells a remarkable story about the strange things all of us believe"-- Provided by publisher.